M83

This is my image of M83, Also known as the Southern Pinwheel, this galaxy. Located 15 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Hydra. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.5. M83 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky. It can be observed using a pair of binoculars most easily in May.

If you look closely you can see several other small Galaxies surrounding M83 and inside M83 you can see interstellar bubbles produced by nearly 300 supernovas in this image. By studying these supernova remnants, astronomers can better understand the nature of the stars that exploded and dispersed their nuclear processed chemical elements back into the galaxy, contributing to the next generation of new stars.

The newest generations of stars in M83 are forming largely in clusters on the edges of the dark, spiraling dust lanes. These brilliant, young stellar groupings are only a few million years old and produce huge amounts of ultraviolet light. That light is absorbed by the surrounding diffuse gas clouds, causing them to glow in pinkish hydrogen light.

(Info from NASA's Goddard Space Center)